Simulation study of copper removal from wastewater by using kenaf fibre as bio-sorbent

Adsorption with green bio-sorbent is widely practiced in wastewater treatments. The potential of kenaf fibre to remove copper ions from wastewater is studied. The adsorption capacity of kenaf fibre can be determined empirically from experiments, but time-consuming. Simulation is more effective with a shorter time to generate simulated results. This study studies the effects of contact time, initial ions concentration, and adsorbent dosage on the adsorption process via kenaf fibre using the Fixed-bed Adsorption Simulation Tool, FAST. The contact time is 1 hour, 10–80 ppm initial copper ions concentration, and 5–10g adsorbent dosages. Simulated results show that percentage adsorption is increased with contact time and will reach adsorption equilibrium after 20 minutes with a maximum of 90% adsorption. Besides, percentage adsorption is decreased with adsorbate concentration, where a maximum of 97.76% adsorption occurs at 20 ppm. Next, adsorption capacity is increased with adsorbent dosages. The maximum adsorption percentage of 99.3%, occurs at 1.6 grams. Furthermore, Langmuir Isotherm is the best-fit model to predict the trendline of the breakthrough curve.